Of the biblical OT prophets, how many were known (from OT sources0 to be married?
How many known to be single?
How many not known as to marital status from the Bible?
Do other Jewish writings, such as the *Midrash * give the missing answers?
;j
In Hosea 1:2, God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute, Gomer. There is much conjecture as to the details of this marriage. All we know for certain is that Hosea took an unfaithful wife as God commanded so God could use his marriage as a living illustration of God’s relationship with Israel. After Gomer bears him three children, Hosea divorces her. Then he seeks her out again, at God’s command. He ends up having to buy her back (from indentured servitude? another man?).
In Jeremiah 16:1-4, God did not allow Jeremiah to take a wife or have children.
The prophet Ezekiel was married. His wife’s death, on the day that Nebuchadnezzar began his final siege of Jerusalem, is recorded starkly in Ezekiel 24:18-19.
The wife of the prophet Jonah is not mentioned in the Book of Jonah, but there is a tradition about her in Talmudic literature.
Aiiieee! Will I ever be able to scrub that mental image from my brain?! Sha-zay-am!
Thanks. Ok, that leaves: Isaiah, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Michah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and maybe another I can’t think of. Anyone?
The OT gives fairly detailed genealogies from Adam down thru Jacob and his 12 sons, but after the time of Moses these details mostly weren’t recorded.
I think it’s probably safe to assume that most of the prophets were married and had children, but we just don’t have any record of it.
I’m not aware of any specific mention of the marital statuses of the other prophets, but considering the fact that celibacy is not a Jewish virtue, it is doubtful that the other prophets were unmarried.
An interesting sidenote to this is the discussion in the Talmud as to whether the wife of Elijah was allowed to remarry. I don’t necessarily know that there was a wife of Elijah at the time that he ascended… the whole discussion is theoretical anyway.
Zev Steinhardt
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Isaiah (8:1-4, particularly 8:3). He was the first prophet I thought of after Hosea (whose entire prophecy is based on his marriage).
I also find it interesting that Isaiah refers to his wife as “the prophetess” which provides an intersting (if unexplained) insight into the roles of a prophet during the period before the Captivity.
Fascinating… Is there a consensus in the Talmud as to the answer?
Was Deborah, who as far as I know the most promienent female prophet, married?
She was probably pokin’ Barak. 
Or, rather, being poked by. :o
The verse regarding Deborah says she was aishes Lapidus*. The word aishes could mean “wife of” as in V’Sarai Aishes Avram (Gen 16:1) “and Sarai the wife of Avram…”
It could also mean “woman of” as in Aishes chayil (Proverbs 31:10) “A woman of valor…”
The word Lapidus could be a proper name. However, the word could also mean “fiery.” The word lapid means a torch, but also has the connotation of anything fiery. Thus the term ishes Lapidus could mean that she was the wife of a man named “Lapidus” or that she was a “fiery woman.”
Zev Steinhardt
I’m not certain. I’m not even sure where the debate is located. I’ll have to do some research on it.
Zev Steinhardt
Wouldn’t Moses be considered a prophet? He was married to…uh…whatername…Jethro’s daughter. (Miriam?)
Miriam was his sister. His wives were Zipporah (Jethro’s daughter) and Asenath (who was Egyptian, don’t recall the detail).
We know Samuel was married too, though not his wife’ name, as he had two legitimate sons.
The Talmud says that there are 48 male and 7 female prophets. This list includes Moses and all the great patriarchs.
It is assumed that Deborah was married. Christian Bible NIV Judges 4:4: Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Isread at the time. I will expound more after I take Hebrew and Hebrew Exegesis in seminary.
Actually, Asenath was Joseph’s wife, not Moses’.
Zev Steinhardt
I don’t think it really matters for the most part whether a prophet(ess) was married or not. What mattered were the messages they brought and their actions. And that is probably why the OT is sort of quiet on the subject.